The present invention refers to a fabric structure having cellular construction. This fabric structure is for example for use in light weight construction.
Typical cellular metallic light weight structures are metal foams. The production of metal foams is very time consuming and cost-intensive. There are light weight structures from lattice-shaped and honeycombed constructed polymer material. Lately, there is research activity on three-dimensional wire structures. Thus, at the Chonnam National University in South Korea experimental structures from wire helices were produced in a very complex six-axes production of a semi automated process as reported by Lee, Y.-H et al. A wire woven cellular metal: Part II, Evaluation by experiments and numerical simulations. Material & Design, 30, pp 4459 to 4468 (2009), as well as reported in Wire-woven bulk Kagome truss cores. Acta Materialia, 55 pp 6084 to 6094, (2007). These structures are however neither self-supporting nor stable against axial displacement but must be kept in a defined position and fixed by gluing, soldering or welding. A similar but much simpler production method is applied by the firm Kieselstein® in Chemnitz as it is known, among others, from Kieselstein et al. Cellular metals based on 3d-wire structures, CELLMET2008, 2d International Symposium, Oct. 8-10, 2008, Dresden. In this process specially formed wire spirals are wound together in a three-axes process into three-dimensional structures. This method is also very labor intensive and due to complex requirements not yet fully automated.
The structures known from the prior art are partly not self-supporting and not form-stable; that is, the single layers of the structures are partly axially displaceable against each other. None of the known structures can be produced fully automated, respectively, the production requires multi-step processes. An efficient commercial production can thus not be realized.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide cellular structures, which in particular correspond to the requirements for light weight construction and can be produced in automated processes.